VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Electrical - 6 volt Horn Polarity

Last week I cleaned and adjusted the points on the standard horn for a ”˜49 3100 pickup.

In that horn the vibratory assembly is electrically insulated from the housing and mounting. As shown in the wiring diagram, the horn circuit is competed when the button on the steering wheel is pushed to ground the circuit. So there are 2 terminals on the horn.

Is the horn polarity sensitive?

I could not hear a difference in sound when I reversed the connections. I still wonder if things operate more efficiently one way or the other.

Hi Rusty
I'm not a horn expert, but I would think not.
I can't look at my 46 to check because I have the dual accessory horn set up, but I would tend to think that if your horn was polarity sensitive, there would be a + and - fairly clearly marked near the terminals.

Functionally the polarity should not matter. If the horn body is connected to one side of the internal horn coil, relay or contactor, then it would matter when bolted into a car as you will have a physical ground, but bench testing should work fine either way.

Thanks for the responses.

I could not see any indication of polarity on the terminals.

I agree with the idea that it will not make a difference in performance. The vibratory will work either way. The only difference will be which way the spark jumps and material is deposited on the points as they open and close.

If we decide to add a relay to the circuit hen we will have to ground one of the terminals. It will easy to add a short jumper wire from one of the terminals to one of the mounting bolts.

Rusty I do not believe the polarity of a 2 terminal horn is a problem and the amount that most people use a horn there will be next to no deposits to make a noticable difference in the next 80 years, oxidation will cause more of a problem.
Tony

Hi Tony!

I agree that the transfer of material will be negligible for a horn. Unlike ignition points.

Thanks!